Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston is an American actress, film producer, and businessperson. Aniston gained worldwide recognition for portraying Rachel Green on the television sitcom Friends, a role which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award (SAG). Aniston has played the female lead in a number of comedies and romantic comedies. In 2012, Aniston received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She is one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood. Early Life Aniston was born on February 11, 1969 in Sherman Oaks, California, the daughter of actor John Aniston and actress Nancy Dow. Her father is Greek, while her mother was born in Connecticut. One of her maternal great-grandfathers was an Italian immigrant, and her mother's other ancestry includes English, Irish, Scottish, and a small amount of Greek. Aniston has two half-brothers, John Melick, her older maternal half-brother, and Alex Aniston, her younger paternal half-brother. Aniston's godfather was actor Telly Savalas, one of her father's best friends. As a child, Aniston moved to New York City. Despite her father's television career, Aniston was discouraged from watching TV, though she found ways around the prohibition. When she was six, she began attending a Waldorf school. Her mother and father split up when she was nine years old. Her father is best known for his role as Victor Kiriakis on the NBC daytime drama Days of Our Lives, which he originated in 1985. Her mother appeared in two 1960s TV series, The Wild Wild West and The Beverly Hillbillies. Having discovered acting at age 11 at the Waldorf school, Aniston enrolled in and graduated from Manhattan's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, where she joined the school's drama society. Anthony Abeson was her drama teacher. She was in The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window by Lorraine Hansberry and Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov. Career Aniston worked in Off-Broadway productions such as For Dear Life and Dancing on Checker's Grave, and supported herself with several part-time jobs, which included working as a telemarketer, waitress, and bike messenger. In 1988, Aniston had an uncredited minor role in the critically panned sci-fi adventure film Mac and Me. In 1989, she appeared on The Howard Stern Show, as a spokesmodel for Nutrisystem, and moved back to Los Angeles. In 1990, Aniston obtained her first television role, as a regular, on the series Molloy, and appeared in Ferris Bueller, a television adaptation of the 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off; both series were quickly canceled. She starred as a teenager going to summer camp in the made-for-television film Camp Cucamonga (1990), and as a spoiled daughter followed by a vengeful leprechaun in the horror film Leprechaun (1993). Aniston herself has expressed embarrassment over it. Aniston also appeared in two more failed television comedy series, The Edge and Muddling Through, and guest-starred in Quantum Leap, Herman's Head, and Burke's Law. Depressed over her four unsuccessful television shows, Aniston approached Warren Littlefield at a Los Angeles gas station asking for reassurance about her career. The head of NBC entertainment encouraged Aniston to continue acting, and a few months later helped cast her for Friends, a sitcom that was set to debut on NBC's 1994–1995 fall lineup. The producers of the show originally wanted Aniston to audition for the role of Monica Geller, but Courteney Cox was considered to be better suited to the role. Thus, Aniston was cast as Rachel Green. She was also offered a spot as a featured player on Saturday Night Live, but turned it down to do Friends. She played the character of Rachel from 1994 until the show ended in 2004. The program was successful and Aniston, along with her co-stars, gained worldwide recognition among television viewers. Her character was widely popular during the airing of the series and was later recognized as one of the greatest female characters in American television. The actress received a salary of $1 million per episode for the last two seasons of Friends, as well as five Primetime Emmy Award nominations (two for Supporting Actress, three for Lead Actress), including a win for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. She was also nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and won, in 2003, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. According to the Guinness World Book of Records (2005), Aniston (along with her female costars) became the highest-paid TV actress of all time with her $1 million-per-episode paycheck for the final season of Friends. Her character's relationship with Ross Geller, portrayed by David Schwimmer in the show, was widely popular among audiences, and the couple were frequently voted as TV's favorite couple by polls and magazines. Following a four-year hiatus from cinema, Aniston returned to film work in 1996, when she performed in the ensemble cast of the romantic comedy She's the One. Aniston's first starring vehicle was the film Picture Perfect (1997), in which she starred as a struggling young advertising executive, opposite Kevin Bacon and Jay Mohr. While the film received mixed reviews, it was a moderate commercial success, and Aniston's performance was more warmly received, with many critics suggesting that she had screen presence. In 1998, she appeared in the romantic comedy The Object of My Affection, and in 1999, she starred as a restaurant waitress in the cult film Office Space. Aniston starred in the independent dramedy The Good Girl (2002), as an unglamorous cashier who cheats on her husband. The film opened in relatively few theaters – under 700 in total – taking $14 million at the U.S. box office. Film critic Roger Ebert declared the role as her breakthrough film, stating that, "after languishing in a series of overlooked movies that ranged from the entertaining Office Space to the disposable Picture Perfect, Jennifer Aniston has at last decisively broken with her "Friends" image in an independent film of satiric fire and emotional turmoil. It will no longer be possible to consider her in the same way." Aniston's biggest commercial success to date is the comedy Bruce Almighty (2003), in which she played the girlfriend of a television field reporter offered the chance to be God himself for one week. With a worldwide box office gross of $484 million, the film was the fifth highest-grossing big screen production of the year. Aniston next starred as the old classmate of a tightly-wound newly-wed in the romantic comedy Along Came Polly (2004), opposite Ben Stiller, which placed number one at the North American box office, earning $27.7 million in its opening weekend; it eventually made $172 million globally. In 2005, Aniston appeared as an alluring woman having an affair with an advertising executive in the thriller Derailed, and as an obituary and wedding announcement writer in the romantic comedy Rumor Has It...; Both films were moderate box office hits. Aniston took on the role of a single, cash-strapped woman working as a maid in the independent drama Friends with Money (2006), which was first shown at the Sundance Film Festival and received a limited release. Aniston's next film was the romantic comedy The Break-Up (2006), alongside Vince Vaughn, in which she starred as one half of a couple having a crumbling complicated split when both refuse to move out of the pair's recently purchased condo. The film received mixed reviews but grossed approximately $39.17 million during its opening weekend and $204 million worldwide. The A.V. Club's Keith Phipps gave the film a negative review stating, "It’s like watching the 'we were on a break' episode of Friends stretched to feature length, and without the blessed relief of commercial breaks or the promise of Seinfeld around the corner." CinemaBlend gave the film a positive review stating, "In an era of formulaic romantic movies that bear no resemblance to reality, The Break-Up offers a refreshing flipside." In 2006, Aniston directed a hospital emergency room-set short film called Room 10,. She noted that she was inspired to direct by actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who also directed a short film in 2006. In 2007, Aniston guest-starred in an episode of Dirt, playing the rival of Courteney Cox's character, and in the third episode of season three of 30 Rock, playing a woman who stalks Jack Donaghy. She received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in the category of Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for the latter. On December 25, 2008, the comedy drama Marley & Me, in which Aniston starred alongside Owen Wilson as the owners of the titular dog, was released. It set a record for the largest Christmas Day box office ever with $14.75 million in ticket sales. It earned a total of $51.7 million over the four-day weekend and placed number one at the box office, a position it maintained for two weeks. The total worldwide gross was $242.7 million. Her next film in wide release, the romantic comedy He's Just Not That Into You (2009), where she starred opposite Ben Affleck, opened in February. The movie grossed $178.8 million globally and ranked at number one at the United States box office for its opening weekend. Aniston appeared as the former wife of a bounty hunter in the romantic comedy action film The Bounty Hunter (2010). The film was panned by critics, with The Hollywood Reporter describing it as a "mishmash ends up as a thoroughly unfunny adult cartoon." Nevertheless, it was a box office success, garnering over $130 million worldwide. A lukewarm box office reception greeted her next film, the romantic comedy The Switch (2010), in which she starred with Jason Bateman as a 30-something single woman who decides to have a child using a sperm bank. In 2011, she starred with Adam Sandler as an office manager posing as the wife of a plastic surgeon in the romantic comedy Just Go with It, which was released on Valentine's Day weekend, and played a sexually aggressive dentist who harasses his employee in the comedy Horrible Bosses. Just Go with It and Horrible Bosses both made over $100 million in North America and $200 million worldwide. Aniston appeared in the comedy Wanderlust (2012) with Paul Rudd, with whom she acted in The Object of My Affection and also Friends, as a married couple who join a commune after losing their money and deciding modern life is not for them. The script for Wanderlust, bought by Universal Pictures, was produced by Judd Apatow. Wanderlust received positive reviews but was a box office failure, grossing only $21 million worldwide, against a production budget of $35 million. Aniston starred as a struggling stripper who agrees to pose as a wife for a drug deal, with Jason Sudeikis, in EUE/Screen Gems Productions' We're the Millers. The film received mixed reviews from critics, but was a financial success, grossing $269 million against a budget of $37 million. Aniston starred in the film Cake (2014), directed by Daniel Barnz, portraying an astringent woman named Claire Simmons who struggles with chronic pain. The film received mixed reviews; however, Aniston's performance was highly praised, dubbed by some critics as "Oscar-worthy." The Toronto International Film Festival called her performance "heartbreakingly good", Gregory Ellwood of HitFix stated, "It's really on most people's radar for being a rare dramatic turn for Jennifer Aniston, and she doesn't disappoint." He further stated, "Aniston makes you believe in Claire's pain. She makes you believe this character is at her lowest point and only she can pull herself out of it. ... It's a complete performance from beginning to end and she deserves the appropriate accolades for it." For her portrayal, Aniston was nominated for the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress, Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, and Screen Actors Guild Award (SAG) for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role. Aniston and Reese Witherspoon are developing a morning show drama The Morning Show for Apple, her first project for a streaming service, as of October 2018. In 2018, her first original Netflix projects were also announced: Murder Mystery, a mystery comedy that reunites her with Adam Sandler, and First Ladies, a film about the first lesbian President of the United States, with Tig Notaro as her wife. Personal Life Aniston met Brad Pitt in 1998; their relationship became high-profile as it was widely publicized in the press. She married Pitt, after two years of dating, on July 29, 2000 in a lavish Malibu wedding. For a few years, their marriage was considered the rare Hollywood success. On January 7, 2005, they announced their separation and finalized their divorce on October 2, 2005. The divorce made the front-pages of tabloid magazines for years, and it still continues to be discussed in the media. Aniston commented on the divorce in a January 2015 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, stating that "Nobody did anything wrong.... It was just like, sometimes things happen." Aniston started a relationship with actor, director, and screenwriter Justin Theroux in May 2011. In January 2012, Aniston and Theroux purchased a home in Los Angeles's Bel-Air neighborhood for roughly $22 million. They became engaged on August 10, 2012 and were married on August 5, 2015 at their Bel-Air estate. On February 15, 2018, Aniston and Theroux announced in a statement to the Associated Press their decision to separate at the end of 2017. Aniston is a Democrat, donating to Barack Obama's presidential campaign and taking part in a fund-raising lunch for Hillary Clinton during her 2016 Presidential campaign. Aniston practices yoga and Budokan karate. In 2014, Aniston spoke of her Transcendental Meditation practice. Aniston said she had undiagnosed dyslexia, which had affected her education and self-esteem, and that after being diagnosed in her 20s, her outlook toward life changed. She stated, "I thought I wasn't smart. I just couldn't retain anything. Now I had this great discovery. I felt like all of my childhood trauma-dies, tragedies, dramas were explained."